Defendant misled consumers by claiming to be from reputable computer firms Investigation in conjunction with computer firms helped secure conviction A call centre trader who misled consumers by claiming to be from Microsoft to carry out computer repairs has today [26 January 2018] been sentenced after pleading guilty to four unfair trading practices. Narendra Harilal Read ▶

Man sentenced to five years and ten months for fraudulent business A man who ran a large Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check fraud has been sentenced to five years and ten months at York Crown Court today (18th December). Marcus Ashcroft-Jones pleaded guilty to charges relating to websites set up by the defendant Read ▶

A National Trading Standards spokesperson said: “Yesterday (Tuesday 12 December), officers from National Trading Standards conducted raids at a number of properties across the UK. These raids are part of an ongoing investigation looking into unfair practices in the secondary ticketing market and particularly the practices of businesses that buy and sell tickets in bulk. Read ▶

People are losing £141 on average after signing up for a ‘trial’ offer only to later find money has unexpectedly been withdrawn from their bank account, new research from Citizens Advice finds. The bulk of sign-ups happen online (77%) where businesses can hide information, through the use of pop-ups or smaller font for example, making Read ▶

Consumers need to know what they are signing up for so they can effectively cancel services and not be out of pocket New analysis shows that in three months consumers paid an average of £160 towards unwanted subscriptions like gym memberships, television, insurance and online streaming services. With the rise of subscription services available to Read ▶

Top award for Isle of Wight trading standards officer An Isle of Wight trading standards officer has received a prestigious award for his work. The officer, James Potter got the award for Individual Excellence in Intellectual Property Enforcement from the National Markets Group (NMG) for his perseverance, dedication and coordination following a successful prosecution of Read ▶

Consumers called premium rate numbers thinking they were contacting well-known organisations directly Some consumers charged over £100 for one call Fine totalling £645,000 issued to DK Call for breaches of the Phone-paid Service Authority’s Code of Practice Refunds ordered to all consumers who seek one PSA advises consumers to take care when searching for customer Read ▶

The conviction follows an investigation by the National Trading Standards eCrime Team A man and his company who misled disabled people into paying £49 a time for Blue Badge parking permits was sentenced to financial penalties totalling £15,457.35 today (29 March 2017) at York Magistrates’ Court. Ramiro Rohan Depass, aged 23, of Thameshill Avenue, Romford, Read ▶

The Take Five campaign is urging consumers to protect themselves from financial fraud on a day of action supported by banks across the country. It comes in wake of figures released today, 16 March, by Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK), which saw £2 million a day lost to financial fraud in 2106. The day Read ▶

New scam prompts advice to help customers avoid becoming a victim of fraud National Trading Standards is warning consumers about a new scam targeting those looking for help with printer problems. The warning comes after a rise in the number of cases seen by the National Trading Standards eCrime Team. The ‘printer helpline scam’ differs Read ▶

Training

The National Trading Standards eCrime Team is helping to build national capacity to tackle e-crime. We provide specialist open-source intelligence and Internet forensics training that meets the needs of local authority enforcement agencies and keeps them up-to-date with the latest online intelligence techniques. This training is available online on request along with specialist equipment to support investigations.

Investigations

We investigate a wide range of e-crimes, online scams and rip-offs of national significance, using the expertise of specialist trading standards officers. These officers can run national level 3 investigations in their own right but also support local Trading Standards officers with their own individual e-crimes investigations.

Forensics

We examine and gather evidence from a wide array of Internet connected electronic devices and storage media seized during investigations. Our state-of-the-art digital evidence unit has experience of extracting and analysing data from just about any type of desktop or laptop computer, tablet, mobile phone or storage medium. They've even taken evidence from an industrial embroidery machine!

Intelligence

The National Trading Standards eCrime Team uses an intelligence led focus to trading standards investigations. We work closely with a team of intelligence officers, analysts and researchers who collect and evaluate a wide range of internal and external e-crime intelligence sources.